Assault became the third Triple Crown winner of the 1940’s against all odds. When he was young, the colt stepped on a stake, driving it through his right front hoof. Assault developed a limp to compensate for his permanently-deformed hoof. The “Club-footed Comet,” as he was later called, overcame various other physical problems during his career. He went off at 9-1 in the Kentucky Derby and won by eight lengths. At the Preakness, he held on by a neck and after stumbling at the start of the Belmont, he came charging in the stretch to win by three.

Assault was also the first horse bred outside of Kentucky to win the Triple Crown and to date, the only Texas-bred to do so. The son of Bold Venture was foaled at the famous King Ranch, known mainly for producing Quarter Horses. After racing until the age of seven, he was retired to King Ranch, where he lived to be 28 years old, dying in 1971.